Charlton boss Alan Curbishley last night refused to defend Jason Euell - who allowed Manchester United to seize the lead at The Valley today and was later sent off.

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley last night refused to defend Jason Euell - who allowed Manchester United to seize the lead at The Valley today and was later sent off.

The striker, booked for bumping into Tim Howard inside 30 seconds of a quite terrible first half, played Ruud van Nistelrooy onside for his 61st-minute goal - and was dismissed four minutes afterwards when he earnt a second yellow card by clattering Gary Neville.

The Addicks eventually lost 2-0 and Curbishley blamed Euell for effectively costing his team any chance of getting back into the contest.

"The first goal and the sending-off changed the game - and Euell was involved in both of them," the manager said.

"The ref booked Euell in the first minute and he knew he was on a booking so couldn't go into that second challenge."

Van Nistelrooy bagged his first when he pounced on a loose ball after a free-kick. He would have been offside had Euell not been standing on the goalline.

The Dutchman struck again with 10 minutes left, when Ryan Giggs' free-kick drifted all the way through to the far post where he poked home his and United's second.

Curbishley, whose injury worries were compounded when right-back Luke Young dropped out ill this morning, has now told his team to cut out the red cards.

"We've had three players sent off in five games this season and you don't normally win games if that happens," he said.

"I've been trying to stress to my players that, when you play this quality of team, you can't go down to 10 men. So we can't keep doing it."

United lost their first game of 2003 at St Mary's before the international break - but showed grit and determination rather than their trademark flair to eke out three points in south-east London.

What panache there was was provided by gifted Portuguese teenager Cristiano Ronaldo.

He starred for United and Curbishley tipped him to cause problems for opposition backlines all season.

"Ronaldo's a dangerous, unknown player," he added. "He's a player that changes games and he'll upset a few defences this year.